Should I go, or should I wait?

[Bossman]

I've got this spot that I found and put up a stand in a draw that is about 250 yards wide. It is in planted pines that have been thinned with a few scattered oaks in it. After I had located the tree that I wanted to put my stand in I found 2 Pine trees 1 about 14" in dia. and the other about 10” that a buck had been rubbing. He didn’t have all of the bark rubbed off but you could plainly see that he had been working them. Both of these two trees are about 20-25 yards away from the tree that I placed my stand. There is no apparent reason for him to take this route except those two trees. The question is do I go into the area and stink it up with my scent and risk him smelling that I have been in the area. Hoping that he will come in close enough for a shot, or do I just wait until Muzzle loading season and be able to make a longer shot? This would be an awesome Bow kill.

[Iluv2hunt]

go

[Kortsman]

Can't kill him if you're not there. Just play the wind if you can.

[Triple Creek Reaper]

Sneak in behind this rain we just had/are having??

[Bossman]

OK It didn't take much twisting of my arm to try the Stand of the big boy. What a day to go and sit in the stand andwait to see if the monster would slip by in bow range. The afternoon started out bwith me riding down the road to my stand location and seeing 5 does only about 500 yards down the road before I got to the spot where I was going to park my truck. I pulled over and parked my truck and started getting my stuff ready to go. I was wearing a pair of shorts and was going to put on my gilly suit when I got to my stand that way I wouldn't get to hot walking into the stand. As I was slipping in I noticed a deer slipping off from me, I was thinking great done spoked big boy off before I even made it to my stand. Well I finally made it to the stand and climbed up and settled in. I want to cool down a little before putting my gilly suit on, hoping I could stand the mosquitos biting everywhere they could find. With wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt there was a lot of areas for them to bite. 30 minutes later I noticed that I had cooled down a bit and was ready to suit up, when I noticed that there was no mosquitos flying around me so why suit up when I was sitting behind a camo net and couldn't really be seen. I sat the rest of the evening in shorts and a shortsleeve shirt. I was grunting about every 20-25 minutes with my mouth looking everywhere as I waited Patiently. after about the 3rd time grunting I noticed movement in the bush about 80 yards out, I grunted softly and here he came. It was a buck only to let me down becaues it was about an 8" spike he came in about 15 yards from me. I wasn't gonna shot a spike with all of the sign around me of a bigger buck. As the day went on I watched 6 other does feed by with never the big buck in site. At 10 minutes till 8 I climbed down and started to walk out when I huge deer stepped out into the trail in front of me. Rightoff the bat I could tell it was a buck the pretty good rack but he was about 60 yards the max shot that I had taken with my crossbow. Then he stepped inbehind a patch of palmettos and started hooking a tree. I thought that I'd try to slipup a little bit to get a closer shot that I would be more sure of. As I slipped up closer and closer he keep hooking the tree and pawing the ground. I got within 20 yards and was waiting for him to finish hooking the tree when he finally finished and posed himself for me to get a good look at him. after getting a better look at him it was a 4 point that had 6" forks and about a 12-13" spread. I watched him ease off never knowing that I was there. Now I going to take one of my daughters back in to see if they can get a shot at their first buck.

[Kortsman]

Nice! The season is early. Big boy will slip up one day... You'll get him.

[Bossman]

this Pine is 20 yards from my stand

[nachogrande]

20-25 yds shouldn't be a biggie especialy if the area is as clear as it looks around that pine. what kind of groups are you getting on targets at that range?

[Bossman]

I'm inside 3" at 20 yards, and good up to about 60 yards.

[nachogrande]

then go stick it, maybe just avoid the area if the wind isn't just right and if you really want that certain buck, I think killing any others will just decrease the odds of getting the one you want. always work the wind and aproach and leave on foot from different directions and times so he doesn't pattern you. keep mixing things up on him. maybe try a mock scrape during the rut. good luck.

[Bossman]

yeah it will be a spot that I don't hunt everytime And I might move around some.

[XD45]

if bucks are traveling together an older buck will let the younger one step out first and hang back to see what happens,if he hears you grunting he will circle down wind to check for any scent

[Bossman]

Ok I'm thinking that it is about time to try this stand once more to see if ole boy boy will come araound. Maybe one day next week i'll try him again.

[Bossman]

Well finally makeit back to the ole big boy's spot. The morning didn't start ou to well because as I start to climb up the latter I here something slipping out. I think that it might have been some hogs but not for sure because I didn't see anything. Not 10 minutes later here comes a doe in on the trail that I walked in on. suddenly things turned around quickly, I was hoping that i'd get to see him. Long story short, he never showed himself but I did see 15 does 2 spikes and Two 6 points. I let them walk only to see if my girls want to go this afternoon and try their luck with one of them. Hopefully the story will be continued this afternoon.

[Bossman]

Well, I carried the oldest girl (17) and she saw a spike that was about 7" and decided to let him walk.